


Domestic BBQs and other food related matters

by SherlockRiverHekate



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-08-28 18:23:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8457046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SherlockRiverHekate/pseuds/SherlockRiverHekate
Summary: The story is pretty much what the title implies. A series of times after missions when MacGyver and others are relaxing and eating food. Does involve an OC. Can be set anytime after the first episode.





	1. Domestic BBQs

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing for this fandom. I'm really sorry if the characters are out of character, I don't have many episodes to work with. Anyway, enjoy.

I shrugged off my jacket and dropped my keys in the key bowl as I walked through the door. After spending most of the day inside at work, I was looking forward to sitting outside by the fireplace and having a nice drink.

I climbed up the stairs, calling out to the two I could see sitting by the outdoor fireplace already.  
"Hello," I greeted them, "Everyone." I added, as I saw more people once I reached the top of the stairs.  
The blonde head of Angus MacGyver, and his housemate's dark head could be seen sitting by the fireplace. Off a bit, and previously out of my line of sight, stood MacGyver's work mates, Riley Davis, Jack Dalton and his boss Patricia Thornton.  
"Didn't know there was a work meeting here, Mac," I said as I made my way over to the group.  
"Not a work meeting," Patricia clarified, "I did have some paperwork to drop off and I found that all the people I was looking for just happened to be here."  
I nodded, it wasn't unusual to find Jack and Riley here when they weren't busy on missions. Having consulted with the Phoenix Foundation before, I knew the truth of what the 'Think Tank' really did.  
I took a seat next to MacGyver, taking the beer bottle out of his hand.  
"Thought you didn't like beer," He laughed as I handed it back.  
"I don't," I replied breezily, "But the fridge is all the way over there."  
At that Jack burst out laughing and Mac just shook his head at me.  
"She's your girlfriend," Jack laughed.

We spent a while sitting on the deck, talking and looking out over LA. After a while, I started to feel hungry, it was probably close to dinner time.  
"Hey, Mac," I said, "do we still have that BBQ meat in the freezer?"  
He looked at me for a moment, thinking. "Yea, I think we do." He smiled.  
"Guys would you like to stay for a BBQ?" he asked, standing up and pulling me to my feet.  
There were noises of agreement from all parties, even Director Thornton.  
"Mac, my man," Bozer shouted out, "Is there any mince in there?"  
MacGyver stuck his head in the freezer, searching for a moment before pulling back.  
"Yea," he affirmed.  
Bozer turned to Riley, "Little lady, you get to experience my world famous burgers!" He sauntered over to the kitchen, pulling up his sleeves to start making the burger mix.  
Riley just shook her head, turning to Jack as he started to speak.  
"You may be making the burgers, but I'm going to be the one cooking." The way he said it wasn't a question.  
"Go ahead, Jack," MacGyver replied, gesturing in the general direction of the barbeque.  
I turned to the blonde, my head cocked in question.  
"Which of us will make some salad?"  
Mac had already started to walk to the fridge, pulling out salad ingredients.  
"I will," he turned to me and tossed me the butter, "You make dessert."  
I caught the butter, placing it on the counter and walking to the cupboard next to the fridge.  
"What do you want then?" I asked him.  
"I know what I want," He replied, smirking at me as he looked straight at me.  
"Dude, we can still hear you," Jack called.  
I laughed, "How do Baileys brownies sound?" I called out before quickly placing a kiss on MacGyver lips. "Later," I murmured.

Bozer didn't take long to make the burger mixture, taking the patties over to Jack to cook, along with the rest of the meat to be cooked. Mac and I danced around each other, each preparing our own foods. I poured some Baileys into the chocolatey mixture, before stirring and depositing the batter into the tin and then into the oven.  
"Hmm, tastes alright," I said, licking the stirring spoon.  
MacGyver turned to me, eyes twinkling. "Is that right?" He asked.  
He stepped closer to me, wiping a spot of batter off my nose and then pulling me into a kiss.  
Eventually we pulled away. "Yea, tastes good," he confirmed.  
I heard a cough from behind me and slowly turned. Riley was standing there, eyebrows raised.  
"I was sent to tell you two love birds that the meat's done." She placed her empty bottle down on the counter and turned to me.  
"You gotta help me, they're arguing over the best way to cook a burger," she pleaded.  
I laughed, walking around the counter to stand with her.  
"Come on, we can show those boys how it's done," I smiled as we made our way back to the rest of the group. MacGyver joined us a few moments later with the salads and then some plates.

We sat around the fireplace, eating and laughing as the sun went down. As it started getting chilly I curled up against MacGyver, trying to gain as much body warmth from the blonde as possible as he wrapped an arm around me.  
"Who would have thought," Jack stated, looking at the two of us.  
Patricia nodded. "It's good seeing you happy MacGyver," she said with a small smile.  
The impact of Nikki's betrayal didn't need saying, but the past is in the past. And this, this is the future.


	2. Sweets for Sweets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story does change perspective. It starts as a third person perspective and then goes to a first person perspective. I've put a page break in when the change occurs.

Angus MacGyver had just finished an overseas mission. The brief had said that it would be a fairly simple mission; go in, get the newly developed weapon, get out again. But things never seem to go MacGyver's way. The mission took longer than expected, and he had been in a rather interesting little fight. Okay, little was an understatement. He was currently sporting a bruise on his knee bad enough that it wouldn't bend, multiple bruised ribs and he wasn't sure, but a possibly sprained wrist (it could just be bruised as well).  
Unlike his house mate, Wilt Bozer, his girlfriend was aware of the true nature of his work. That was both good and bad. Good that he didn't have to lie to her, which made life a little simpler. Bad, because she and Riley were now quite good friends and the tech expert was in the habit of informing his girlfriend when he was in trouble.

t was late when MacGyver returned home from the mission. Quietly, he pushed open the front door to his apartment. The first thing he noticed was that it was a lot warmer than usual. The second thing was a pleasant smell. The whole room smelt like baked food, sweet and welcoming. Placing his bag down by the counter, he noticed that the entire counter was filled with cooling racks. An array of biscuits, slices and cupcakes were resting on the wire racks.  
MacGyver smiled, looking at the food sitting on the counter. He knew exactly who was responsible. He was too tired to think about eating anything on display, instead making his way to his room. All he really wanted to do was sleep.

Pushing open his bedroom door, he found his girlfriend curled up around one of his old shirts, fast asleep. With a smile he stripped off his worn clothes and eased himself down on the bed and fell asleep.

********************************************************************************************************************************************************************

I woke up to the sun shining through the top of the blinds. The first thing I was aware of, other than the stupidly bright sun, was that the bed was quite warm. Rolling over, I saw that I wasn't alone in the bed. A blonde head and pale arm were sticking out from the blankets. My lover was home, he must have returned some time during the night.  
I looked at the clock on the wall, making out the time to be about 10am despite my still sleepy brain. I placed my hand softly on the pale arm, resting my head on the exposed shoulder.  
"Morning sunshine," I whispered quietly.  
MacGyver slowly opened his eyes and turned to look at me.  
"Good morning," he smiled, his voice croaky from sleep.  
"How are you feeling?" I asked, genuine concern in my voice.  
MacGyver rolled over, wincing slightly as he did so.  
"A little sore," he admitted, pushing back the covers. In doing so, he revealed the bruising on his chest.  
I gasped, shocked at what I saw. MacGyver looked down, a little surprised himself at the colour of his ribs.  
"I suppose I should get up and do something about my ribs," he gave me a small smile, "and knee." He winced as he swung his legs to the side of the bed.  
Together, we slowly got Mac up and into some clothes.

I walked back into the kitchen, drying my hair with a towel. Mac was standing by the array of baked goods on the counter, mobile to his ear.  
"Man, you gotta come over," drifted to me, "There is no way we can eat all this on our own."  
I stopped, trying to figure out who he was talking to.  
"You know what she's like, she bakes when she's stressed," there was a chuckle, "Jack, I'm not even sure how much food there is here, and there's probably more in the fridge."  
Well, that solved that problem. He was talking to Jack Dalton.  
I walked over and gently placed an arm around Mac's waist, careful not to put pressure on his ribs.  
"Hello Jack" I said loud enough to be heard through the phone, "Do come over, there's plenty of food and I don't expect there's anything in your cupboards."  
I heard Jack groan through the phone. "She's not wrong," He conceded. "But wouldn't you two be, you know, catching up." The suggestion behind his words was clear.  
I felt my face growing warm, and MacGyver chuckled silently.  
"No Jack," he said, "My ribs are far too bruised for any physical activity at the moment. Now please come over here and help me get rid of all this food." He said with finality, "And bring Riley with you if you can contact her," he added as an afterthought.

It was about midday and MacGyver, Jack, Riley and I sat around the fire pit, the fire not burning, nibbling at the various sweets laid out on trays around us. Well, Riley and I were nibbling, Jack was shovelling them down like there was going to be no tomorrow.  
"And now I understand why you're still single," Riley commented, raising an eyebrow at Jack.  
"No idea what you mean," he replied, voice muffled by the muffin currently filling his mouth.  
Riley just stared at him, shaking her head.  
"They won't go bad after one day," I said with a laugh.  
"But they're just so good," He mumbled, reaching for a biscuit. "And I'm a growing boy."  
"Growing round more like it," Riley quipped.  
"Shush you," he replied, only it came out more like 'thuth oo.'

In the end no one left until late that night, when everyone was too full to eat anything more. That didn't mean that all the food was eaten, Riley took a dozen biscuits and Jack at least a dozen cupcakes. But everyone looked a lot more relaxed than when they had arrived, the smiles coming more naturally now that the danger of the mission was nothing more than a memory. It was all I could ask for.


	3. Fast food, Fast love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is set just after S01E06 Wrench, so there are some spoilers for that episode.

I walked into the kitchen, to see a variety of containers, pots and moulds lining the bench. Sitting around the bench were Riley, Jack and Bozer, discussing which presidents they were each going as for the Halloween party this weekend. Bozer was dead set on the idea of everyone going as a president, and his excitement was contagious.  
"Hey all," I said as I reached the bench.  
Riley and Jack turned to see me, as Bozer started mixing something.  
"Hey, you're just in time for Bozer's mask making session," Riley told me, "Which your boyfriend has skipped out on."  
"Yeah, sit your butt down and go through this mayhem with us," Jack demanded.  
"Ah, worse luck for you," I laughed and made my way to the fridge, "I've already got a mask setting. Anyone want a drink?"  
There were affirmative noises from Riley and Jack and a 'no' from Bozer, so I grabbed some beers and leant on the bench opposite the Phoenix Foundation members.  
"Did any of you get caught in that traffic jam earlier?" I asked innocently.  
"Traffic jam?" Riley asked in confusion.  
Jack caught on quickly enough though. "Yeah Riley, you know, the one a few blocks back from where they're holding the peace talks. The talks made traffic in that area hell."  
Riley went a little paler at his words, and I knew for certain that they were somehow involved.  
"I heard something about, a bomb threat I think?" I ventured. It wasn't a difficult guess to make, they had been chasing The Ghost, and he was a bomb maker for hire. I knew that there were people out there that would like to see the talks disrupted, if he wasn't doing it purely for his own sake.  
At my words, both Riley and Jack stilled and it was Jack's turn to lose colour.  
"I, um, I think I heard Director Thornton mention it is passing," Jack recovered.  
I nodded, they were definitely involved and there was most definitely a bomb involved.  
"So, are you all coming to the Halloween party?" I switched the subject to something more light hearted.

It was later in the afternoon that MacGyver returned home, after having visited Alfred Pena's wife and 5 year old daughter. He was in a better mood than I had seen him since this whole thing started, but he still wasn't quite back to his normal self.  
Of course, the moment he had stepped foot through the door, Bozer had set upon him for mask making. His was now the only mask not setting, and Bozer was keen to get started on it before he had to leave for work.  
Riley and Jack had both left shortly after MacGyver had returned. Close as they are, I think the presence of each other was making deal with the events of the day a little difficult.

"So what was going on with the cordon around the peace talks today?" I asked Mac, as we were lazing in bed. It wasn't late, but there was a comfort in being able to just sit in bed together.  
"I found the vehicle The Ghost was using, and Jack went running in after him," MacGyver closed his eyes a moment before continuing, "As he rushed in, Jack stepped on a pressure plate. I had to find and disable both bombs before Jack could even move. It was, not fun."  
I pulled him close, not knowing what I could say. Anything I could think of seemed kind of pathetic in comparison to what they had faced.  
We sat like that for a bit, running my hands through his hair and massaging his scalp. Then Mac's stomach growled.  
"Little hungry, Mac?" I asked with a smile.  
"Yup," He replied. "Got busy at work today, forgot to have lunch," He tried to joke.  
"I could make something," I paused, "But our kitchen has been turned into a makeshift craft shop."  
The blonde chuckled, the feeling reverberating through my chest.  
"We could ask Bozer to bring something home from work," Mac suggested.  
I nodded, "He should finish in about an hour," I agreed, "If you can last that long."  
It was only after the words left my mouth that I realised the double entendre. The smirk on MacGyver's lips told me he hadn't missed it.  
"Order food first," I said laughing. "Then I can think of some ways to keep you occupied until it arrives."  
As Mac was asking Bozer to bring us food, I remembered that our kitchen come props department included Bozer's favourite substance for fake blood, chocolate sauce.

As Mac returned his phone to the bedside table, I locked one handcuff around his wrist and the other to the bed head. He gave a shout of surprised, as I walked to the kitchen to retrieve the chocolatey substance.  
When I returned, Mac was standing by the bed with the handcuffs in one hand and not much else on. One of my bobby pins lay on the floor beside the bed.  
"You really need to teach me how to do that," I commented, as I placed the bottle on the bedside table.  
"Your turn," was all he said, before I was picked up and deposited on the bed.

Later, as we lay on the bed, I heard the click of the front door shutting.  
I glanced across to Mac, who was dozing lightly with his arm around me. Despite how hungry he was earlier, I opted to let him sleep. Slowly I wiggled my way off the bed, taking care not to disturb the sleeping blonde. I grabbed my underwear and a shirt off the floor, donning them before exiting the room.

Bozer looked up as a floor board creaked under my weight.  
"Hey," he smiled, "Food's on the counter."  
I thanked him as I made my way over to the plastic bag that was wafting delicious, burger smells. As I reached the kitchen bench, I grabbed MacGyver's wallet and handed Bozer the money we owed him. He didn't notice the notes I was waving at him to begin with, his head searching through the cupboard for something.  
"Have you seen the chocolate sauce?" he asked, removing his head from the pantry and looking at me.  
I looked down, trying to hide the slight flush on my cheeks.  
"We may have used most of it," I admitted sheepishly, staring at the dried smear of sauce on my hand.  
"Huh, thought we'd run out of ice cream," Bozer mused, before looking at me properly.  
He took in my messy hair and the fact all I was wearing was Mac's shirt.  
"Oh," he commented foolishly, "right."  
I rubbed the back of my neck with my hand. "Yeah, sorry about that."  
"Nah, all good," he smiled, "Just, I do not want the rest of that bottle back. You guys can keep that."  
Bozer turned to the drying masks on the bench.  
"Take your food and go back to," he waved in the direction of the bedrooms, "whatever you were doing."  
I opened my mouth to say something and Bozer cut me off.  
"Nope, don't want to know," he said. "And you made me bring you food cause you were too busy doing that."  
I laughed at that. "In my defence, I would have cooked something but SOMEONE has turned our kitchen into a special effects art studio."  
I gave him a mock glare.  
"Go back to your genius," was all Bozer replied. "And keep it down, I don't need to hear that," he added as an afterthought.


	4. Coffee, Cupcakes, Contractor?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is obviously set before all the others in the series, but given the reference to the Phoenix Foundation and not DXS, it's after S01E01 The Rising.

I was sitting in my office at work, reading through the emails that I had received since I had gone home yesterday. This was possibly one of my least favourite tasks for the day, however it did need doing. Just as I'd cleared the last of the emails from the inbox, and was about to minimise the tab on my computer, a new email appeared at the top of my inbox with a loud ping. I sighed loudly, but at least I was still on the computer.  
The sender simply said 'Phoenix Foundation' and the subject header read 'Request for contractor.' This sparked my curiosity, as normally any contractor requests are sent to HR, and then forwarded to the person in question from there. This had been sent directly to me from the Phoenix Foundation. The name was curiously familiar, but for the moment I couldn't quite pick why. So instead, I opened the email and read its contents.

I sat for a moment, contemplating what they email had said. The director of the foundation, a Patricia Thornton, had already contacted my higher ups (an email from them had arrived shortly after the one from the Phoenix Foundation) and it urged me to consider the offer. It was upon reading the name of the director for the second time that it finally clicked where I had heard of the Phoenix Foundation. It was the name of the Think Tank where my new boyfriend, Angus MacGyver, worked. I wasn't entirely sure what the Think Tank would need me for exactly, but they had asked me specifically and my superiors were encouraging me to go. I replied to the email in the affirmative, expecting a promptly reply with the address as I was promised.

Twenty minutes later I was parking outside a non-descript building in a section of LA that was all office buildings. As I walked through the door, a security officer asked me for ID.  
Jack Dalton, one of MacGyver's friends whom I had met a few times, worked for security here, so I kept my eyes open for him as I was escorted to the office of the Director.  
The door was opened, and at a desk sat a well-dressed woman with dark hair. Her dark suit complemented her complexion and she exuded an air of confidence and competence. And she seemed just a little bit scary.  
"Welcome, please take a seat," She said gesturing to the seat opposite her. "Everything that I am about to tell you is classified information and must not leave this building."  
I tried, mostly successfully, to hide my look of surprise, and agreed.  
"Phoenix Foundation isn't the Think Tank that the organisation appears to be when you look for it on the internet…."

About half an hour later I walked out of Director Thornton's office overwhelmed and definitely in need of a coffee. The Phoenix Foundation was less 'Think tank' and more 'covert operations doing things that weren't strictly within the government's control.' However, it did make their need of me more understandable. Didn't mean I wasn't in need of coffee.

A few moments later, a cappuccino in hand, I walked into a large room with a big screen attached to one wall. Around the screen were some chairs, and in one of these chairs was a blonde head that I definitely recognised.  
"MacGyver," the director addressed the person sitting in the chair, "I have the contractor we need."  
He stood up and turned to see us. A small look of shock crossed is face, and then he walked towards me with a polite smile.  
"Angus MacGyver," he introduced himself, holding out his hand for me to shake.  
So this is how you want to do this, I thought to myself.  
I smiled and took his hand. "Pleased to meet you," I replied, "I'm…"  
Before I could continue Director Thornton interrupted me.  
"I am aware of the relationship between the two of you," she said drily.  
"I recognised your name when I was looking at people for this task," she explained, "I had overheard Dalton mention your name in connection to MacGyver. And if I wasn't sure of your connection before now, Dalton's smirk would have confirmed it." She tipped her head to someone behind us. We both turned to see Jack Dalton leaning against the wall smirking and Riley Davis trying not to laugh at the situation before us.  
"Connection," Jack muttered, "Yea, they're connected, they're…"  
"Hi!" I smiled at them, cutting Jack's mutterings off as they made their way over to us. I took the opportunity to move from standing awkwardly opposite Mac to stand next to him.  
"So, what's the development?" Dalton asked.

Two loud knocks pulled me out of my own thoughts, trying to piece together what I had found and how it connected to what the others were working on. I had no idea how long I had been in my 'office', working and absentmindedly drinking coffee without actually paying any attention to the time. I stretched and walked to the door, wondering what could have happened now.  
I pulled the door open to see MacGyver leaning against the door frame.  
"Hey sunshine," he smiled, "Have you had lunch yet?"  
"No, not yet," I replied, gesturing him into the room.  
"It's 2.30," he replied slowly, staying right where he was.  
"Oh," I replied simply. I honestly hadn't noticed how late into the day it had become.  
"Grab your stuff," he instructed me, "I'm taking you to a late lunch."  
I barely had time to grab my phone and purse before MacGyver was dragging out the door and to get food.

We sat in a small café near the Phoenix Foundation, looking out over a small park. I noticed that MacGyver was alternating between fiddling with one of the sugar packets that was on the table and his cup of coffee, his fingers never really staying still.  
"Well," I began, "now I understand why a Think tank would need my particular help."  
MacGyver stopped dead at my words, eyes fixed down at the table for a few moments.  
"You know I didn't lie to you on purpose," he started, looking up from the table at me. "If it wasn't such a risk to tell you, I would have."  
"I know," I smiled softly at him, "The first thing that Director Thornton said to me was that I couldn't tell anyone.'"  
Mac laughed, "Yea, that sounds like her." He took a breath. "So you're not upset with me?" MacGyver asked, a cloud of worry disappearing from his blue eyes.  
"No," I replied, "But I am assuming I still can't tell Bozer?"  
"No," Mac confirmed, "He still has no idea."  
Just then our food arrived, which forestalled any further conversation at that time.

As I walked back into my office later that day, I found a cupcake and note on my desk.  
'Welcome to the team' was scrawled in a relatively neat hand, with 'temporarily' added underneath in a heavier, thicker handwriting. Riley and Jack, I assumed with a smile. If I was going to continue to assist Phoenix Foundation, I had a suspicion that I would be kept well fed.


	5. Making Picnics

It was a warm sunny morning in LA. The sun was shining high in the sky, despite it only being about 10am. I was walking around the house, looking for the picnic blanket I knew I had with me when I moved in. I thought I had put it in one of the communal cupboards, but considering I was living with an aspiring film director, it could have ended up almost anywhere. Asking said film director was useless though, he was still asleep.  
MacGyver walked into the room, dressed casually in jeans and a green t-shirt. In one hand he held an old fashioned wicker picnic basket and the other was holding something I couldn't quite figure out.  
"Awesome, you found a picnic basket," I commented, "But what's that?"  
MacGyver placed the picnic basket on the kitchen bench and held out the object in his other hand to me. It turned out to be a wrapped stack of plastic plates and a couple of plastic cups.  
"Cutlery for the picnic," he smiled. "Did you find the rug?"  
I shook my head ruefully.  
"Oh well," he replied, "I'm sure I can come up with something else."  
"Not the point, Mac," I countered, "you shouldn't have to 'come up with something' when I know I had one somewhere."  
He nodded, "I'll ask Bozer if he's awake before I leave."

About 10 minutes later, I was wrapping sandwiches and placing them in the picnic basket. Then I moved onto making coleslaw and a potato salad and placing some servings into containers. This picnic would have plenty of food, even if it was for only two people. Added to the basket also went rocky road, chocolate fairy cupcakes and a curiosity from Australia called 'fairy bread'. I knew the sweets were guaranteed to please the young girl who was joining MacGyver on a picnic in the El Dorado Nature Centre.  
Since The Ghost had surfaced in LA, and MacGyver had gone to see the Pena family, he had struck up a sort of friendship with his CO's young daughter Annabelle. Today he had agreed to take her to the nature park and have a picnic with the little girl. He wasn't able to save her father, but he was going to be there to give her mum a hand where he could. So a picnic it was.

A while later, all the food and a couple bottles of soda were packed into the picnic basket. Along with the food there was a bag with sunscreen and insect repellent. While I was preparing food, MacGyver had found the picnic rug (masquerading as an oil pit in one of Bozer's animations) and had put it into his car.  
"All the food is in here," I handed the blonde the picnic basket. "And sunscreen, insect repellent and hand wipes in this one." I passed the other bag over.  
"Thanks," he took the offered items in one hand before leaning over and giving me a tender kiss.  
"It's the least I can do, for you and for the Pena's," I replied.  
While I had never met MacGyver's CO, and only met his wife and young daughter twice, I owed a lot to the man. Mostly the fact MacGyver was alive today.  
"I'll see you this afternoon," MacGyver promised.  
"Don't rush, Mac," I replied, "Enjoy your picnic."

I was lounging on one of the deck chairs by the pool, the mid-afternoon sun making the water from the pool shine and dance across the pages of my book. Next to me was a plate of left over rocky road, and a cup of iced coffee. Lazily, I flipped the page of my book and reached for another piece of the chocolate slice. At that time, I heard a noise from inside the house. A few moments later I looked up to see MacGyver making his way over to me.  
"How'd the picnic go?" I asked, marking my place in my book before closing it.  
"Annabelle loved the fairy bread," he replied, pulling the other deck chair over.  
"Thought she might," I replied. The fairy bread was honestly all sugar, but it tasted amazing.  
"I'm afraid that I've handed a hyped up six year old back to her mother," he chuckled.  
"Probably," I laughed, "Would you like a piece of rocky road?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for everyone who has never heard of fairy bread, it's basically white bread covered in butter and then covered in 100s and 1000s. And my family makes rocky road with marshmallows, almonds, Turkish delight and cherry ripe covered in layers of milk and dark chocolate. So yea, MacGyver probably did send home a hyperactive child :)  
> Also, I'm sorry about this one being short.


	6. Late Night Snack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is set after S01E07 Can Opener. Spoilers for that episode.

I woke up to the sound of heavy, laboured breathing beside me. Blearily, I opened my eyes and waited for them to adjust to the darkness of the room. After a few seconds I was able to see, and turned to the person beside me. MacGyver was twisting and turning violently in his sleep, his eyes squeezed shut. I sat up quickly, recognising the symptoms. This wasn't the first time in the last couple of weeks that he had experienced nightmares. Being nearly asphyxiated with nitrogen by El Noche after the mission spiralled wildly out of control had left MacGyver with memories that were far from pleasant.  
Suddenly, he started lashing out, trying to push the people in his nightmare away from him. His foot made contact with the side of my leg rather sharply.  
"Time to wake," I muttered, debating whether I should switch on the bedside lamp.  
A sharp gasp for breath decided it for me, the need to wake him more urgent than a need to turn on the lamp.  
"Mac," My voice was a little louder than a whisper. No response.  
"Mac," I repeated, placing my hand gently on his shoulder. There was still no response.  
I sighed lightly, and took a breath.  
"Angus MacGyver," I said clearly, shaking his shoulder a little.  
His blue eyes snapped open, darting around to look for the source of the noise. He looked straight past me, no recognition in his eyes. As he started to recognise the room, his breathing slowed down and he turned to look at me.  
"Are you with me?" I asked gently.  
"Yea," his voice came out hoarse. "Yea," he repeated, "Just a nightmare." He grimaced.  
"I know," I said soothingly. "It's going to happen after all that, it's ok."  
He groaned, "I know, it's just so frustrating. I have no control. Did I hit you?"  
"Nah," I lied, it wasn't a hard kick so I didn't think I needed to add that to his conscience. I raised my hand to brush a stray strand of hair off his face, but he flinched at my movement.  
'Right, still stuck in his thoughts then," I thought.  
"Mac, how about we get up and grab a drink?" I suggested.  
He nodded, already getting out of bed.

A few moments later and we were standing in the dark kitchen, Mac holding but not drinking a glass of water. He stood there in his pyjamas, staring off into the night.  
"Hey," I said softly, "What are you thinking about?"  
He startled, the water in the glass sloshing out over his hand.  
"What could have happened if no one had seen my message," he replied.  
I walked over, taking the glass from his hand and setting it onto the bench.  
"But they did, and Jack found you," I smiled.  
"I know," he replied, "But that doesn't make the thoughts go away."  
Despite the dark of the night, I could see a darkness in his eyes.  
"Hungry?" I asked.  
"Not really," he replied.  
"But you could go for an ice cream sundae?" I asked with a smile.  
"Yea," there was a smile in his voice, "but only if I can get a banana fritter too?"  
I looked over to the fruit bowl, then back at the blonde.  
"I think you're in luck."

I started getting the ingredients for the banana fritters, but noticed that Mac was sitting on one of the bar stools staring at his constantly moving hands. I placed the flour on the counter.  
"Mac," I said quietly, "I'm going to the loo."  
He nodded, but didn't look up.

"Hi Riley," I spoke quietly into my phone, "Did I wake you?"  
"Nah, I was messing around with an online game," She replied. "What's up?"  
"Mac's been having nightmares," I sighed, "I'm not quite sure what to do."  
"I'm not surprised," she said, "That place is horrible."  
"Yea, just," I took a breath, "We're having a sorta midnight feast, do you want to come over and talk or something?" I asked. "He's just sitting there, fiddling with paperclips."  
"Right, that's too still for Mac," She commented, "Yea, I can be at your place in like 5."

I walked back into the kitchen, and MacGyver barely looked up at me.  
"Hey," I put my arm around him.  
"You took a while in the loo," there was a faint smile on his face.  
"Yea," I conceded, "I got a text from Riley. She was still awake and bored, so I invited her around."  
I was a decent liar, but I kept my head resting on Mac's shoulder, just in case.  
"Don't mind," he muttered, turning to give me a proper hug, "Just so long as I get my banana fritter."

Five minutes later, Riley arrived as I was mixing the batter.  
"Hey, Mac," she said quietly, "How are you doing?"  
"I'm not too bad," he responded, "What about you?"  
Riley responded with in the affirmative, catching my eye and raising an eyebrow at his lie.  
"Where's Bozer for this midnight feast?" She asked.  
"He had a late shift, so he's sleeping," MacGyver replied.  
"Won't he hear us and wake up?" she questioned quietly.  
MacGyver laughed, a genuine laugh. We both turned to look at him, partially in surprise at the outburst.  
"Nah, Bozer sleeps like the dead. Nothing wakes him," he replied, "He actually slept through a minor explosion when we were kids."  
Riley just looked at him.  
"It was a sleep over. I woke up and got a little bored," He shrugged his shoulders.  
"Mac dear," I called, "Could you get the ice cream out of the freezer?"  
"And anything else you want on the sundaes," I added as an afterthought.  
Riley made her way over to the stove where I was standing, placing halved banana slices in the batter.  
"What you making?" She asked, standing over my shoulder.  
"Comfort food," I replied cheekily. "Ice cream sundaes on hot banana fritters."  
"Oooh, nice. You wouldn't happen to have any pineapple to make pineapple fritters too, would you?"  
MacGyver was by the cupboard, where he was already looking for sundae toppings.  
"Yea, we have a tin of pineapple in here," he replied removing it and placing it by the stove.  
"Thank you," I smiled, catching his wrist and pulling him in for a quick kiss.  
"Gross," Riley rolled her eyes.  
"For that, you are on pineapple draining duty Miss Davis," I put on my most posh accent.  
She shook her head at me, but grabbed the tin and made her way to the sink, pouring the juice into a glass.

We sat around the kitchen bench, sundae ingredients spread out like a production line. Each bowl held banana fritter and pineapple fritter straight out of the frying pan. Two tubs of ice cream were also laid out on the bench, one Neapolitan and one cookies and cream.  
"Well, dig in," I said, already reaching for the spoon sitting on top of the Neapolitan.  
I added a couple scoops of ice cream to my bowl, then moved on to the sauce.  
My finished bowl held the fritter topped with ice cream covered in chocolate sauce, crushed nuts, sprinkles, mini marshmallows and crushed up biscuits. The other bowls were similarly adorned.  
We each sat at the bench, chatting as we devoured our late night meal.

Once we had all had our fill, Riley got up to leave.  
"You could crash on the couch," Mac suggested, as I nodded in agreement.  
I grabbed a spare pillow and some blankets from the cupboard, handing them to Riley.  
I looked at the mess of frying pans and bowls in the kitchen, debating if I should deal with them now or not.  
"I'll deal with it tomorrow," Mac whispered in my ear, "Thornton hasn't called me in."  
He grabbed my hand and led me back to the bedroom.  
As we both lay back down in bed, Mac put his arm around my waist.  
"Don't think I don't know why we had a midnight meal," he murmured, "Thank you."


	7. Toxic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Used some of the song 'Toxic' by Britany Spears. This story can also be found under my collection Songfic, by the same name. Enjoy!

MacGyver walked into the kitchen, placing two bags of groceries down on the counter. He started unpacking them, ferrying containers from the counter to the cupboards. He'd emptied one bag and was about to start on the second when there was a knock at the door.  
"Come in," he called.  
The door opened and a few moments later Patricia Thornton walked into the room.  
"Patricia, hi," MacGyver said, putting down the jar of jam in his hand. "I wasn't supposed to be at work today, was I?" he asked. He was fairly certain that he had the day off, and he'd had his phone on him all day so he couldn't have missed a call.  
"No no," his boss replied, "But I do have a new mission for you. When does your girlfriend get home?"  
MacGyver looked down at his wrist, checking the time. "She should be home shortly, she usually gets back from work around 5.30."  
"And your housemate?" she questioned.  
"Bozer left for work only about an hour ago," the blonde replied.  
"Good, it would be difficult to explain the mission to you with him here," she told him.  
"But why do you..." MacGyver began, before his director cut him off.  
"You'll see," she smiled enigmatically.  
MacGyver went back to unpacking the groceries as Patricia Thornton took a seat on the couch to wait.  
"Would you like a cup of coffee?" Mac asked as he put the last of the groceries away.  
"No, thank you," Director Thornton replied, "Do you have any tea?"  
A chuckle sounded from the kitchen, "Plenty, what variety would you like?"  
"English breakfast will be fine," she replied, "Two sugars and a dash of milk."

I walked in to find MacGyver handing a cup to someone sitting on the couch.  
"Honey, I'm home," I called out.  
"Hey," he replied, "Grab something to drink and come over here. Director Thornton has something to discuss with us."  
I grabbed a glass of juice out of the fridge and made my way over to where my partner and his boss were seated in the lounge area.  
"Director," I nodded to her as I sat down.  
"Hello," she greeted me, "I have a new mission for Mac, but it requires you as well."  
"I'm not a field agent," I reminded her, "I've only consulted for you guys a couple of times."  
"That's ok," she reassured me, "You're mostly there as part of Mac's cover."  
I nodded in acquiescence.  
"A known dealer of pretty much everything will be in town next week. This is the first time we've actually known when he's here before he gets here. Mac is going undercover as a courier for him and will gain his confidence, but the information we really need is on his laptop. He carries it with him everywhere, but it's in a case that blocks external signals so Riley can't hack into it and get the information. The only time it's not in the case is when he's at home, but we don't know the location of that. He has a young wife, an ex-model, who from all reports enjoys having dinner parties. The aim is for Mac to get an invite to dinner, and you," here she looked at me, "are the prompt needed. One young wife to keep the other company. Once you have the location then we can send Jack and Riley to the location to hack the laptop while the two of you are having dinner. We will move the both of you into a small apartment for the duration of the mission, you can't stay here and risk your cover being blown."  
We both agreed with that, but I had a couple of questions.  
"Okay, that I can do," I told the director, "But does that mean I will have to take time off work?"  
"No," she replied, "You can continue to work as normal but there will be a protection detail assigned to you just in case."  
I nodded, "Second question, what's the cover that we should tell Bozer?"  
"Right," Thornton smiled, "There is a rich investor looking at an idea that the Think Tank has developed. Mac knows the idea the best, but the investor is a little eccentric. He won't invest in ideas unless they were developed by married people. To ensure that the funding is secured, we are going to pretend that Mac is."  
Mac kept his face carefully neutral, but I had to swallow a laugh.  
"That's not the best cover I've heard," I admitted, "but I can't think of anything better either."  
"It's agreed then?" She asked, and we both nodded. "Mac, are you right to use your previous alias, Dexter Fillmore?"  
"Yea, everything is already in the system for that name," he stated. "Are you going to have an alias?" he asked me.  
I looked at Thornton, who nodded.  
"Stephanie, Steph Fillmore then," I said.

It was two weeks later that Mac had managed to get an invitation to the dealer's house. Patricia had organised with work that I could leave early to assist of Foundation business. Really what she had done was ensure I had something appropriate that I could wear and had time to prepare a dessert like Mac had promised. I figured a white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake would be sufficient and would be easy to make.  
The house was quiet, with Mac still at work for another half hour. I took out the ingredients for the cheesecake, and turned on my ipod.

I had a shower and then started preparing the cheesecake. As I started pressing the base into the tin, a Britney Spears song came on. I started dancing to the music finished with the base and started pouring in the ingredients for the actual cheesecake.  
"Baby, can't you see, I'm calling," I started singing before I quite realised what I was doing. There was no one else home, so I continued to sing and dance around the kitchen.  
"A guy like you, should wear a warning. It's dangerous, I'm falling," I laughed slightly, the words were quite accurate for MacGyver really. He was dangerous, if you were on the wrong side. I turned on the mixer and added the chocolate and raspberries to the mix.  
I felt a hand on my waist at the line 'Do you feel me now?'  
I squeaked and jumped, not expecting the touch and a little embarrassed at getting caught singing.  
"I'm home," MacGyver whispered in my ear, kissing me on the cheek.  
"Hey," I replied, turning to kiss him properly.  
"What are you making?" he asked.  
"Raspberry and chocolate cheesecake," I replied, switching off the mixer and adding whole raspberries to the mix before pouring it in to the cake tin.  
He hummed in my ear, making me shiver.  
"Stop," I laughed, "We have somewhere to be in a couple of hours."  
"Plenty of time," Mac replied, wiping some of the mixture on my lips.  
I let him kiss it off me, before pushing him away gently.  
"No, Dexter," I said with a laugh.  
He walked off towards the bedroom, as I poured the cheesecake mixture onto the biscuit base and then placed the entire thing in the fridge.  
"With a taste of your lips, I'm on a ride, you're toxic I'm slipping under," I danced around the room singing the chorus for the final time, knowing that he could hear me. I had some time to waste before the cheesecake would be set.

Half past seven saw us arrive at the house of the dealer. One house down I saw a white van parked out the front, ladders and other equipment on the roof. I knew that Riley and Jack had also found the address.  
Mac opened the door for me, and we walked together to the front door of the house.  
A young woman, about my age, with long blonde hair and green eyes opened the door.  
"Hello, I'm Tiffany," she held her hand out to Mac.  
"Dexter," he shook her hand, "And this is my wife, Steph."  
"Pleased to meet you," Tiffany said sweetly, "James will be down shortly. May I take the cheesecake?"  
I gladly handed it over, it would be better in the fridge than sitting out.  
A tall man with sandy brown hair walked into the hallway as Tiffany went to put the cheesecake in the fridge.  
"Dexter," He greeted MacGyver, then turned to me. "You must be Mrs. Fillmore, a pleasure to meet you."  
"Steph, please," I smiled at him, but inside my stomach was twisting. This man was responsible for all sorts of trafficking, from humans to drugs and weapons. But that's ok, Riley would get all the information they need to not just arrest him but the rest of the ring.

As it came to dessert time, my phone pinged. Excusing myself, I checked the message.  
It was Riley, telling me that they had all the information that they needed. The distraction was enough Mac and I hadn't eaten any of the cheesecake while Tiffany and James had eaten two mouthfuls of the cake.  
Mac and I had taken very small bites of cake, barely ingesting any ourselves. Within about 20 minutes of taking the first bite of cheesecake both Tiffany and James had slumped over, asleep from the phenergen that was in the cheesecake.  
We both got up and walked out of the house, meeting Jack and Riley out the front.  
"I guess the cake was truly toxic," Jack laughed.

It was only after that I wondered how he knew about me singing that song…


	8. Lunch Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a prompt from TwitchyAuthor who asked for jealous/insecure Mac. Like he sees a guy flirting with her and he thinks that maybe she should leave him for a normal life.... or something like that. I hope I fulfilled this for you. Also thanks to my friend who helped me write Mac for this, you know who you are.

It was a Saturday, and so far we had spent most of the day lounging around the apartment. I sat on the couch, curled up with an Agatha Christie novel. It had been a long week at work, and she was a guilty pleasure of mine. While I sat and read, Bozer and MacGyver were playingMario kart. Apparently competing against each other was something the two had done since they were boys, any time they found they had plenty of time and nothing of importance to do. And surprisingly Bozer was the better of the two players, unsurprisingly he was also the more competitive.

At about midday, Bozer leapt up. He had forgotten that he promised a couple of Uni friends that he would go to a film screening, and that started at 12.30. Luckily the theatre that was screening the films was a small one literally three streets down from us.  
I took the remote that Bozer had been using and we played a few more rounds. MacGyver won these rounds hands down, my lack of coordination making it difficult for me to catch the kart being driven by the dexterous blonde. As we finished another round, MacGyver's Luigi taking the 1st position on the platform and my Yoshi finally making it to the podium at third, I looked away from the TV to check my phone.  
"Huh, it's 1 o'clock," I mused.  
The time had slipped away while we were furiously racing around the tracks.  
"Lunch?" MacGyver questioned.  
We had both eaten breakfast late but it was probably time for another meal.  
"Yea, lunch," I replied, standing and walking towards the kitchen.  
MacGyver stood up, walking behind me and spinning me towards him.  
"No," he replied, "Go put some jeans on, we're going out somewhere."  
"Like a date?" I said sweetly, smiling.  
He shook his head at me, smiling also. "Yes sweetheart, like a date."

15 minutes later we were sitting outside a small local café, each with a cup of coffee and trying to decide what we wanted to eat. After a few moments, Mac put his menu down and sat back.  
"You've decided what you want?" I asked, briefly looking up before going back to weigh up two options.  
"Yep, pesto pasta," he replied. "What about you?" he raised an eyebrow at me.  
I hummed, giving the menu one last look before putting it down.  
"The chicken and sun dried tomato focaccia," I decided with a smile. "And could you get me iced tea, please?" I gave him my sweetest smile.  
"Of course," he answered, picking up both menus and walking towards the counter.

The line was long, and Mac had been gone about 3 minutes when a guy came up to our table.  
"Hello," he said to me, standing next to our table.  
"Hi," I replied, looking up to see if I knew this person.  
"What's a pretty girl like you doing sitting out here alone," I nearly rolled my eyes, flicking them to see the line inside instead.  
"I'm not alone," I told the man.  
"Not now that I'm here, you're not," he countered with a grin.  
So he was one of those people, and he was going to be hard to get rid of. I started desperately wishing that Mac would be back.  
"No, actually I'm here with someone," I told him firmly.  
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather come sit with me." He wasn't bad looking, tall and well-built with dark hair and a tan.  
Just then someone came up behind the nameless guy trying to hit on me.  
"I'm sure she wouldn't rather sit with you," MacGyver replied.  
"And who are you to answer for her?" dark and tanned stood up straight, trying to tower over Mac.  
Mac held his ground, looking him straight in the eyes. "I'm the guy sharing a house with her."  
"Just because you live with this lovely lady doesn't mean you get to decide who she has lunch with," the guy countered. I could see the muscles in MacGyver's jaw clench.  
"We already have plans," he told the guy, who was starting to get on my nerves.  
"She could still change her mind, happens you know," he winked, actually winked, at MacGyver before grinning at me. That was it, but before I could say anything Mac spoke up.  
"You'd rather have lunch with your boyfriend than this stranger, right hun?" The blonde put his hand on my shoulder, standing very close to my chair.  
Unfortunately the now obnoxious guy just had to have the last word.  
"I'm sure you're trying to be nice, kid, but you barely look 20," he said.  
I flinched, knowing that was a sore point for Mac. He hated those comments, he often got underestimated just because of how young he looked.  
"Yea, try someone in your own league," Mac ground out, his hand sliding from my shoulder to the other one, his arm effectively wrapped around me.  
This had gone too far, I did not want this guy to spoil my lovely date with my genius boyfriend.  
"I suggest you leave now," I stared at the guy, making my intention very clear.  
I leant against Mac, "Hey, isn't that John. You know, from your platoon?"  
I pointed to a random man, a few yards down the street. Mac caught onto what I was doing, and nodded.  
"Yea, from my first tour," he replied.  
Obnoxious guy put two and two together, and made a swift exit.

Mac sat back down, still visibly fuming.  
"I'm sorry about that," I said softly.  
"I'm assuming you didn't call him over here," MacGyver stated, but there was a note of doubt in his voice.  
I looked at him, staring straight into his blue eyes.  
"I didn't, he just walked over here and wouldn't take no for an answer," I told him.  
Mac nodded, relaxing into his seat.  
Then a thought came to me.  
"Mac, are you jealous?" I asked. Lying on the table next to the sugars was a green paper clip, bent into the shape of a heartbeat.  
He looked away momentarily, running his hand through his hair.  
"You were," I said with a smile.  
"Yea," Mac mumbled, "I was. He's just, a lot different to me?"  
"I am more than happy with you," I told him, "You are smart, kind and very good looking."  
"But my work and what I do. It's not exactly normal," he protested.  
"I know that," I said calmly, "Honey, I knew you weren't normal after the first date. Not many people know how to adapt a USB charger to work with a car cigarette lighter."  
He gave me a half smile. "But now you know what I really do for work, and how dangerous it is. You deserve someone who can guarantee they will come home from work."  
I blinked at him a couple times, picking my words carefully before replying.  
"The work I do has helped your foundation in the past, so at least I am aware of the nature of your work. This is no different to how army wives live every day, only I get to see you more often." I grabbed his hand across the table. "And no one can truly guarantee they'll get home from work, freak accidents happen all the time."  
"My work is a lot more dangerous than normal people's," he tried to protest, but it was only half hearted.  
"And you, Angus MacGyver, are a lot more clever than normal people," I countered, "And you have Jack and Riley watching your back."  
"You have a lot of faith in me," he said softly.  
I nodded and stood up, going to MacGyver. I leant down to kiss him, just a short kiss, but Mac pulled me closer, not letting my lips go.  
We broke off after a few moments, short of breath.  
"Do you think Bozer will be back when we finish lunch?" He asked.  
I shook my head, and Mac smiled cheekily just as our food was put down in front of us.


	9. A Bowl of Forgiveness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is set after S01E08 Corkscrew. So minor spoilers for that episode inside.

I mixed the sauce into the pasta, and then dished up two servings of the food.  
"Bozer," I called out, "Dinner's ready."  
From down the hallway Bozer appeared, looking less exhausted and empty than he had in the past couple of days.  
"Smells good," he said with a weak smile, picking up one of the bowls and taking it to the table.  
"Thanks," I replied, "Cheese is on the table."  
I took my own bowl of pasta and sat down at the table. We were quiet for a bit while we ate.

"How are you handling everything?" I asked after a while.  
Bozer looked at me and sighed.  
"Better," he admitted, "It's hard to believe that there was a crazy hitman in here only a few days ago." He swept his arm around the repaired kitchen area.  
"Yea, everything seems so normal now," I mused.  
"I can't believe Mac had been lying to me for years about work," Bozer stated.  
He needed to get this out, and other than talking to Mac when it happened, he hadn't really talked to anyone else.  
"You know he didn't want to, right?" I asked. "He really was only trying to protect you."  
Bozer scoffed a little, "a lotta good that did," he muttered.  
I hummed sympathetically. It would have worked if Mac didn't have a crazy ex who was seemed to want revenge for being arrested.  
"You seem to be taking this well," he commented. And then a strange look crossed his face.  
"You already knew, didn't you?" he wasn't really asking. "How long?"  
"About two or three months after we started dating," I admitted.  
"So Mac could tell his new girlfriend, but he couldn't tell me," he exploded. "Me, his best friend!" Bozer started to stand up and push his chair away.  
"Sit down," I said, and edge of steel in my voice.  
He looked at me, and noticing my expression slowly sat back down.  
"Mac didn't tell me, I found out because I was asked to consult for the Phoenix Foundation," I explained. "He didn't even know that I had been called in until Patty, Director Thornton, and I walked into the debriefing room."  
Bozer relaxed back into his chair a little.  
"So why didn't you tell me?" He asked.  
I smiled sadly at him, "I couldn't," I said, "Patricia threatened that if I told anyone she would, with Riley's help, make it like I had never existed."  
He nodded thoughtfully. "Girl could do it too. But what about Mac, he was an employee, not a random contractor?"  
"Yea," I agreed, "But there were protocols saying what he could and couldn't tell people. He was just trying to keep you safe." I paused for a moment. "I think the other part of it was that here, with you, he could be Angus MacGyver. He could be himself. He didn't have to worry about being MacGyver the bomb tech or MacGyver the agent. Around you, he could be himself. This was sorta his sanctuary."  
Bozer nodded again, thinking it over as he ate more of his pasta.  
"What about Riley?" he asked sadly. It had really hurt him to find out that not only his best friend, but the girl he liked were both lying to him.  
"Nothing so deep as Mac's reasoning," I confessed, "But a lot like mine. If she'd told anyone, she would have gone back to prison."  
I took a sip of my water and sighed. "Two years in maximum security was enough, don't you think?"  
"She was in maximum security?" Bozer asked incredulously.  
"Yea," I said sadly, "I don't know the details, but I know it wasn't nice."  
Bozer finished his pasta, then asked, "What about Jack?"  
I chuckled a little. "Jack was CIA, he has no problems with keeping secrets. But honestly, I think he was doing what he spends half his time doing."  
Bozer looked at me questioningly.  
"He was watching Mac's back, and following his lead. Mac hadn't told you, so Jack wasn't going to either."  
Bozer stood up, grabbing his bowl.  
I hurriedly swallowed the mouthful I'd just put in my mouth. "There's more pasta on the stove."  
"Sweet," He replied, heading towards the extra food. "There's a heap in here, what were you trying to do, feed an army?"  
I loaded more food onto my own spoon as I answered.  
"I like having left overs, and I was hoping Mac might be home for dinner," I mumbled. He hadn't been home for dinner the last four days, but I could always hope.

Once Bozer had sat back down, I asked him a question that had been on my mind since Murdoc told Bozer that his oldest friend was lying to him.  
"Bozer, do you think you'll be able to forgive Mac?" I asked with a little concern.  
Carefully, he put his fork down and looked at me.  
"Honestly, I think I already have," he confessed. "I think I forgave him the moment he walked back into the conference room at Phoenix, after he'd gone to the car yard to face Murdoc and get the others out. The moment I saw he was unharmed, I think I realised that it didn't matter, so long as my best mate was safe."  
I let out a breath I didn't realise I was holding, relieved with Bozer's response.  
"How do you do it, though?" he asked, "Knowing every time he goes on a work trip that he could be hurt or killed?"  
I pushed my nearly empty bowl away, suddenly I wasn't hungry anymore.  
"On the easier missions, I stay in contact with Riley or someone at Phoenix who can give me updates," I admitted. "On the harder ones, or when things go sideways, I bake to take my mind off it and I just have faith in the team. I have faith in Mac's skills to get them out of situations and I have faith in Jack to watch my boy's back. Seriously, Mac can get them out of almost anything using the stupidest things."  
Bozer was silent for a second, then he laughed.  
"Yea, that's my man," he gave me a proper smile, which was more than I had seen from my normally enthusiastic housemate in days. "Have I ever told you about the time…" He trailed off as the door opened, both of us on edge.  
"Hey everyone," MacGyver called out as he appeared from the door way.  
We both relaxed, but the spark I had seen in Bozer's eyes was more dull now.  
'Forgiven but not forgotten,' I thought to myself.  
"There's pasta on the stove," I told Mac, picking up my bowl to place in the sink. "You might want to reheat it."  
I turned to head to the couch, leaving MacGyver to join Bozer at the table to eat.

They both ate in silence for a couple of minutes before MacGyver spoke up.  
"I'm sorry for not being home these past few nights," he said to neither of us in particular. "I've had a ton of paperwork to do after the Murdoc case."  
"You're like a secret agent and you still have to do paperwork?" Bozer asked.  
"Yea," MacGyver admitted mournfully through a mouthful of food.  
"Man, that sucks," Bozer replied, though his tone lacked any real emotion.  
There was more silence, but this silence felt different. Then Bozer spoke again.  
"Mac, does this mean you can do some really cool action stunts and stuff?"  
Mac choked on a laugh. "Yea man, I can do some stuff like that."  
"Awesome," Bozer was suddenly more excited. "You see, I was thinking that….  
I didn't hear the rest of the sentence, my attention drawn away by my phone buzzing in my hand.  
I opened the text to see it was from Riley. 'How's Bozer doing?' it read.  
I twisted to look over the back of the couch at the two men at the table.  
Bozer was sitting adjacent to MacGyver, his arms moving animatedly as he explained the stunt he had in mind. The blonde nodded and smiled in between mouthfuls of pasta, his eyes lit up in a way I hadn't seen since he had found out about the hit on him.  
I took a photo with my phone, sending it to Riley.  
'I think they're going to be just fine,' I replied.


	10. Chocolate Cure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This refers to events from S01E07 Can Opener and possible spoilers for SO1E08 Corkscrew.

I woke up and blinked into the darkness, trying to figure out what had woken me. I felt the bed shift beside me, and loud gasping sounds were coming from the blonde beside me. Turning over, I saw my partner twisting in the bedsheets, writhing like he was trying to get away from something. Abruptly, he stopped breathing, holding his breath. I froze, not sure what to do then he let his breath out in a rush and started gasping for air. I sat upright, realising that he was having a nightmare.  
"Mac," I hissed.  
He kept gasping and choking, still trying to get away from the people in his dream.  
"MacGyver," I said more loudly, hoping he would hear me and wake up. I got no positive response, and I was starting to worry he was going to hyperventilate.  
"Angus," I tried his first name, knowing that he never used it and hated it. "Angus MacGyver, wakeup!"  
This time I did get a response, Mac sitting straight up and opening his eyes. His breathing slowed to a more normal pace, and he looked around the room.  
I relaxed and smiled at him.  
"Hey, everything okay?" I asked softly.  
His eyes fell on me and widened.  
"What are you doing here?" He hissed. "Keep away from me."  
I saw that his eyes were glazed over, and then he started moving away from me.  
"No, no please, no," he pleaded.  
My heart broke hearing him, and I realised he still hadn't woken up. There was nothing I could do, he thought I was someone else and I couldn't wake him up.

Hurriedly I got up and moved away from MacGyver, heading towards the bedroom door.  
"Bozer," I called out as I swung the door open.  
Inside the room, MacGyver was still mumbling and had started hyperventilating again.  
"BOZER!" I shouted more desperately for our housemate.  
This brought his oldest friend rushing from his room, still pulling on a t-shirt.  
"What's happened?" he asked in a rush.  
I pointed into my shared bedroom. "Mac, I think he's having a nightmare or panic attack." I said brokenly.  
Bozer rushed into the room, and I stood in the doorway.  
"I couldn't wake him," I said, "I think his brain twisted me into Nikki," I said bitterly.  
His friend nodded, then knelt down by MacGyver, who was huddled on the floor.  
"Hey, Mac," was all I heard before I turned and walked into the kitchen.

I filled the kettle and set it to boil. As I placed the kettle down, I noticed my hands were shaking. In fact, now that I was alone in the darkened kitchen, I realised that my whole body was shaking slightly. I leant against the counter, taking deep breaths and letting them out slowly. After a few moments, my hands had returned to being mostly steady. I took out three mugs from the cupboards and placed them by the kettle, before turning to the cupboard. Rifling through the shelves I found a packet of chocolate chip cookies and a packet of Oreos. Grabbing both, and the drinking chocolate, I turned back to the now boiled kettle. I prepared hot chocolate for both the boys, and a cup of earl grey for myself.  
I couldn't hear any noise from the direction of the bedroom. While that wasn't necessarily a good thing, it did mean that no one was shouting at least. Cautiously, I made my way to the door of my bedroom. There was murmuring from inside, voices low but calm. As I looked around the doorframe and into the room, I saw Bozer and MacGyver sitting on the side of the rumpled bed talking.  
"We good in here?" I asked gently.  
Both heads turned in my direction, one looking exhausted and the other looking slightly worried.  
Mac opened his mouth to reply, a croak coming out instead.  
"Yea, it's all good," Bozer replied for him.  
"Awesome," I replied, "I'll be right back with hot chocolate then."  
With that, I returned to the kitchen to retrieve the drinks and chocolatey cookies.

A few minutes later, we were all sitting on the bed with our drinks clutched in our hands. Mac and I were sitting with our backs to the head board and Bozer was sitting towards the foot of the bed, legs crossed and facing the two of us. The two packets of cookies were laying open and half eaten between us.  
"Can opener?" I asked gently, referring to the codename we had given Mac's mission in the super max prison.  
He nodded, looking down at his mug.  
"Man, that's nothing to be ashamed of," Bozer reminded him. "What that dude did to you, anyone would have nightmares."  
Slowly Mac looked up from the drink he had both his hands wrapped around. He looked at Bozer and then me, blue eyes clouded in memory.  
"When I was stuck in the trunk, I couldn't get past the fact I might never see either of you again," he admitted quietly.  
I took one of my hands off my mug, and wrapped it around the blonde's shoulders.  
"But you did your thing, and you got out," Bozer reminded him, "And now those sons of bitches can't hurt anyone else."  
Beside Mac, I nodded in confirmation.  
"I will admit," I told him, "I was scared as hell the whole time you were in there. Especially when Jack couldn't find you after you broke out."  
We were all quiet for a moment, before Bozer spoke up.  
"This is all sweet, and depressing," He stated. "And to fix that we all need another cookie."  
He picked up the Oreo packet and shoved it at us, shoving one in his mouth so that his cheeks puffed out like a squirrel.  
That definitely broke the sombre mood, making both me and MacGyver laugh at his ridiculousness, and I felt the remaining tension in Mac's shoulders dissipate.


	11. Gingerbread and Chisels

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for S01E09 Chisel. And a bit of a Christmas feel too :)

I rushed up the stairs to Patricia Thornton's office, not really paying much attention to the people I passed by. I had got a text to my phone from Andie Lee, Thornton's assistant, telling me that things had gone south while MacGyver and his team were in Latvia. All they were supposed to be doing was collecting the leader of a supposedly ISIS related cell, so what exactly had happened was left up to my (overactive) imagination.  
Andie met with me as I approached the Director's office.  
"She's not in there," the dark haired woman told me, holding a tablet to her chest.  
"Okay," I replied, falling in step with her, "Where is she then?"  
We took a detour down a corridor, heading towards the conference rooms if my memory served me right.  
"Both the director and Mr Bozer are in conference room three, where Riley is keeping in contact with us," she informed me.  
We stopped outside a door, Andie unlocking it and then pushing it open. Bozer turned towards the door, stalking towards it with his mouth opened. Then he saw that I was standing in the door way, and stopped dead.  
"Are you here to take me home?" he asked, both hopeful and a little deflated.  
I stepped into the room and Andie shut the door behind me, leaving the two of us in the room alone. Director Thornton wasn't anywhere in sight currently.  
"No, not here to take you home," I replied, "But here to sit and stress with you."  
With that, Bozer closed the space between us and wrapped me in a tight hug.  
"Man, they nearly didn't make it to the embassy on time," he gushed, "Those guys, they were right behind them, shooting."  
I shook my head. "Not really information I wanted to hear, Boze," I said honestly.  
We both sat down in front of the screen, keeping an eye what was going on.

When MacGyver decided that he was going to turn a couple of doors into shields and rush out with Jack to get the Marines back into the building, I started swearing at the screen.  
"What the hell is he thinking?" I shouted.  
"You know full well what MacGyver is thinking," Patricia said dryly.  
"Yea, that if he has to take a hit to get the Marines back in, well it's totally worth it," I spat out.  
"My boyfriend is a freaking idiot."  
Bozer slung his arm over me, and I turned to look at him. He smiled a little, the look he gets when he has an idea. He turned to Patricia, his head tipped to the side and a charming smile on his face.  
"Director, do you have a kitchen of some sort in here?" he asked sweetly.  
The director of the Phoenix Foundation thought for a moment, then smiled. I think she knew that Bozer was trying to distract me with baking.  
"We don't have a fully functional kitchen, but there should be mixers and an oven in one of the laboratories," she informed us, just as MacGyver and Jack made it back into the embassy building safely.  
All of us let out a sigh of relief, and then I realised that I didn't have any ingredients to cook anything.  
"Patty, if I'm going to bake then I'm going to need ingredients," I told her, "And I doubt you keep baking supplies here."  
She shook her head at me, "No, there aren't any in the building, but there is a store at the end of the road."

10 minutes later, I was standing in one of the Phoenix Foundation laboratories with flour, butter and spices all around me. I had decided I was going to make gingerbread men for when they returned. Because they had to return, I wasn't going to think otherwise.  
Bozer stayed in the conference room, partially so he knew what was going on, and partly because he wasn't actually cleared to be down in the Foundation's labs.  
I took my time, carefully making the gingerbread dough and making them into the biscuits. I knew that if anything happened, anything serious at least, Bozer would call me.  
I had one batch of gingerbreads in the oven, and was finishing cutting up the dough for the second batch of biscuits when my phone rang.  
Hurriedly I wiped my hands down and grabbed my phone. My heart leapt into my throat when I saw the caller ID.  
"Bozer, what's happened?" I asked, the worry in my voice evident.  
"The Latvians are falling back," He told me, but his voice didn't sound as jubilant as it should have with that news.  
"That's great, isn't it?" I replied.  
"It would be," he sounded grim and my stomach knotted, "If they weren't waiting for reinforcements."  
I knew that Patricia had organised reinforcements to help our boys out. "When are our reinforcements getting there?"  
"In three hours," he replied.  
"And their reinforcements?"  
There was a pause before Bozer replied, "In two."  
I knew instantly that there was no way that they could hold up against that many people for that amount of time. I felt sick.  
Just then the timer for the oven went off.  
"Bozer, I'm going to take these cookies out and put the next batch in, and then I'm going to be right up there," I told him.  
"Thanks," he replied, "thanks."  
I hung up and dealt with the oven, my hands shaking ever so slightly.

I knocked on the door to conference room three, and swiftly it opened and Patricia Thornton, face grim, ushered me in.  
"We aren't 100% sure what's going on in there," she told me. "Riley isn't able to get any messages out to us, and we aren't able to get any through to her either."  
I closed my eyes, taking a few breaths.  
"So all we can do is wait and hope?" I asked.  
The older woman nodded sadly. The mood in the room was incredibly sombre.  
"Hey, they've got Mac," Bozer spoke up, "I can guarantee my man is thinking of a way out as we speak."  
"Yea," I agreed, but I was still worried, "Yea, I'm sure he is."

About half an hour later, the gingerbreads were sitting cooling when there was a call through to Director Thornton. Bozer and I sat there, tension evident in our bodies. We all but held our breath while Patricia was talking, waiting to hear the news.  
She put down the phone and turned to the both of us.  
"They are all out of the building and safe," she informed us, the relief evident in both her voice and her face.  
I let out my breath, the knot of worry in my stomach unravelling.  
"How?" I asked, knowing full well that our reinforcements hadn't arrived yet.  
Thornton smirked at me. "Apparently MacGyver made improvised explosives from sugar and trapped the insurgents in the building, allowing everyone to climb out of the second story and drive to safety."  
Bozer let out a laugh at that. "Course he did! My man, coming through again," he looked so happy.

The team walked through the door, Bozer running to hug Mac and then checking on Riley. Once his attention had turned to the techie, I made my way to MacGyver myself.  
"We thought you weren't going to make it out," I breathed, holding him close.  
"So did we," He admitted, resting his chin on my shoulder.  
We pulled apart a little, still not game to actually let go of each other yet.  
"You smell like gingerbread," the blonde mused.  
I laughed, gesturing to the plates of cookies sitting on the conference table next to the bowl of paperclips.  
"Bozer's idea," I admitted, "To keep me calm after I started swearing at the screen."  
"You should have seen Mac," Jack was in the middle of retelling an event to Bozer. "This grenade came through the window..."  
Beside me I felt Mac still, and I wondered what was coming next.  
"And Mac, he just bent down and picked it up and tossed it back out the window. Like a second later the thing exploded."  
I turned to face him, an incredibly unimpressed expression on my face.  
"You did what?!" I nearly shouted.  
Mac pulled me into a kiss, stopping my rant short. In the background I could hear Riley, Jack and Bozer laughing.


End file.
